Minister Confirms ‘ISIS Brides’ and Children Still Hold Australian Passports

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed the 34 “ISIS brides” and children trying to return to Australia still hold local passports.

Burke said citizenship includes legal rights, including access to travel documents.

“If anyone applies for a passport as a citizen, they are issued with a passport in the same way, in the same way that … someone applies for a Medicare card, they get a Medicare card,” he told ABC News on Feb. 18.

Burke also rejected claims the documents were politically approved, saying: “To be clear, these are automatic processes done by public servants.”

Burke said the issue was not new, noting repatriations also occurred under the previous Coalition government.

“Under the Coalition, we had in the order of around 40 people do self managed returns that didn’t just include women and children but included fighters, included men who had gone there to fight,” he said.

“What is different is the blowing out of all proportions that’s happening from them right now.”

The women and children linked to ISIS fighters tried to leave Syria’s Al Roj camp on Feb. 16 to travel via Damascus and return to Australia, but were turned back.

A Syrian official told Reuters the trip was stopped due to administrative issues.

Push to Cancel Passports

Burke’s comments came amid growing calls from the opposition to cancel the group’s travel documents and block their return.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonathon Duniam said the issue was “of incredible concern” to most Australians.

Duniam also questioned why only one person was temporarily blocked so far.

“I would be very interested to know what advice there is on the others because I think the fact that they’ve all gone to the same place for the same purpose … I’m not sure how you can differentiate between them,” he told the Sunrise program.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie also backed the call, saying Australians were “rightfully concerned” about the prospect of the group returning.

She pointed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s earlier statement that the government would not assist in their repatriation.

“I think the Labor party and the Labor government is deeply compromised on this issue because Australians are rightfully concerned,” she told the Today show.

“The prime minister says we’re going to throw the book at them. What evidence base are they going to use to actually do that?”

Labor Minister Burke’s western Sydney electorate covers one of Australia’s largest Muslim communities.

The Exclusion Order

Burke confirmed on Feb. 16 that one Temporary Exclusion Order was imposed on advice from security agencies.

While the minister declined to identify the individual, he said she migrated and gained citizenship under the Howard Coalition government, and travelled to Syria during the Abbott government.

“I won’t go to further parts of identification, the papers have been given to the individual’s lawyers … They may choose to make the case public, but that will be up to them,” he said.

Temporary exclusion orders allow the home affairs minister to bar an Australian aged 14 or over—deemed a national security threat—from returning for up to two years, unless they obtain a return permit under strict conditions.

What About the Children?

The group in Syria includes more than 20 children, raising questions about their future.

Burke and Albanese both argued the children’s situation was the result of their parents’ decisions.

“Parents sometimes, very, very rarely, make decisions to put their children in horrific, radicalised situations,” Burke said.

Asked what he would want for the children, Burke said: “What I want is not available.”

“What I want is for these individuals to have not made a decision as horrific as going to one of the most dangerous parts of the world to provide support in some way or another to one of the most horrific organisations we have seen,” he said.

“You want every child in the world to be as safe as possible.”

Albanese, speaking to media on Feb. 19, said the responsibility lay with the mothers.

“We have a firm position, which is that the mothers in this case who made this decision to travel overseas against Australia’s national interest, are the responsible ones who’ve put their children in this position,” he told ABC Radio.

“We will do nothing to assist these people coming back to Australia. No, we won’t.”

The debate has shifted sharply since 2019, when former Prime Minister Scott Morrison said children should not be punished for their parents’ actions.

“They’ve got off to a horrible start in life as a result of the appalling decisions of their parents, and they’ll find their home in Australia, and I’m sure they’ll be embraced by Australians, and as a result of that embrace, I’m sure they will live positive and happy lives,” he said in 2019.

In 2022, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil argued it was in Australia’s interest to return children from detention camps in Syria to prevent them from being exposed to radical ideology.